Austin is warm, it’s sunny and the music is still flooding with a vigor you can’t compare to anything. Everyone is moving by foot whether to catch the next unofficial showcase or the last minute surprise performer. There was some magic in the air yesterday, an incendiary feeling that something good was to come.

Lianne La Havas, the British breakout of just twenty-three has taken her talents to the soundboard – opening Nonesuch’s showcase at The Belmont on Thursday morning to a full audience, many were unprepared for what was to come. The soulful songstress used her pipes to deliver a performance of a lifetime. La Havas soloed and whispered the lyrics to “No Room For Doubt” with subtle and sensual bravery.

As the band joined her back on stage she offered, “this next song deals with themes of my ex-boyfriend. I was wondering if you could help me to sing it.” The band harmonies the word, “forget” and has the audience repeats. By the third round, all are on toes bellowing the word and dancing to the electricity La Havas creates with her passion. And when “Is Your Love Big Enough” the title track for her 2012 debut album, came out of her luscious pipes, everybody realized we were experiencing a performance from a performer who is going to be around a long, long time.

As the temperature rose in Austin, so did the fervor of music.

New Orleans’ own Hurray for the Riff Raff (shown above) brought down the HGTV + Paste Stages on 6^th  Street showcase with a stunning performance. Miss Alynda Lee Segarra is the creative force of the clan, a runaway at 17, sought life as a rail-tramp, hopping freights down to New Orleans where she became a part of The Dead Man Street Orchestra.  Now twenty-five years old, the folk singer has released record, “Look Out Mama” which was produced by Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes) and has received airplay on BBC Radio and has been featured in The Times.

Segarra has created an essential listening guide to Americana music. Rolling in the fuss of her Lusitanian twang, singing of “the southern states I love the best,” Segarra set the tone for how a live performance should behave. Well rehearsed, deeply engaged, soulfully inspired and hauntingly captivating. The desperate narratives of tracks like “Ramblin’ Gal” and “Little Black Star” were sucking us in. And when “Look Out Mama” came into play, it was apparent the only place to be was right in front of this small but mighty lady, listening to her vibrate music under the Texas sunshine.

And so the sun began to set on Austin, yet the music was just getting started.

Photo by Clint Alwahab